Estate of soldier sues over his death while under the care of Roseburg VA

The estate of a Puyallup, Wash., soldier who died in Roseburg in 2008 is suing the federal government for $2 million, arguing that he was too impaired to have been given a three-day pass by the Roseburg VA Medical Center.

According to the lawsuit in federal court in Eugene, Jeffrey Jared Waggoner was given a score of 30 out of 100 on the Global Assessment of Functioning -- a measure of a person's psychological, social and occupational fitness. A score of 30, the suit says, typically indicates a need for inpatient care.

The suit says the 32-year-old veteran of the war in Afghanistan suffered from a variety of physical and emotional maladies, from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to addiction to opioids. At the time of his death, Waggoner was prescribed a cocktail of 19 drugs, including Oxycodone, Clonazepam, Melatonin, Tramadol, Cyclobenzaprine and nicotine. The estate's lawyer, William Savage of Portland, said Waggoner was given a three-day pass and instructions about his medications.

The lawsuit said he checked into the Roseburg Sleep Inn, went across the street to Applebee's, but fell asleep at the counter. An Applebee's manager put his food in a bag and walked him back to his hotel, leaving him at the door to his room.

Savage said the surveillance video shows Waggoner trying to slide his card key in the room's lock, then slumping unconscious in the doorway. The suit says the Douglas County Medical Examiner pronounced his death a result of an overdose of methadone and Oxycodone and asphyxiation, apparently the result of the way Waggoner had fallen.

The Army's own investigation into Waggoner's death found that he shouldn't have been released by the Roseburg VA Medical Center because of his Global Assessment of Functioning score, the lawsuit says.

Tuesday's filing was the estate's third attempt to sue over the Roseburg VA's handling of the case. The first two notices of tort claims were rejected by the government under the Feres Doctrine, which prohibits members of the military from suing the government for injuries incurred while on active duty. That led to Tuesday's filing, Savage said.